Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GPT-4.5 Orion benchmark

Name: Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GPT-4.5 Orion AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Gemini 3.6 Flash (Google) and GPT-4.5 Orion (OpenAI) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, GPT-4.5 Orion is ahead by 34 points (1,540 vs 1,506; seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, GPT-4.5 Orion resolves 71% versus 70.8% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). Gemini 3.6 Flash streams faster (198 tok/s) while Gemini 3.6 Flash is the cheaper output token ($3.75/1M). Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window (1M tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Google

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Google Jul 21 workhorse. Now shares the 3.7 Flash introductory $0.75/$3.75 rate through Dec 31 2026.

Elo 1,506$3.75/1M out

OpenAI

GPT-4.5 Orion

OpenAI largest dense non-reasoning model with expansive world knowledge and reduced hallucinations.

Elo 1,540$150/1M out

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Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Gemini 3.6 Flash (5)vsGPT-4.5 Orion (5)

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W (50%)

← Gemini 3.6 FlashGPT-4.5 Orion →

GPT-4.5 Orion (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,506vs1,540

Coding Elo

1,514vs1,520

SWE-bench

70.8%vs71%

LiveBench

67.2%vs68.5%

GPQA Diamond

79.6%vs84%

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 0WGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

198 tok/svs60 tok/s

Time to first token

92 msvs350 ms

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 2WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$3.75/1Mvs$150/1M

Input price

$0.75/1Mvs$75/1M

Context window

1Mvs128k

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 3WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageEven 3–3

Preference Elo

GPT-4.5 Orion

34 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Gemini 3.6 Flash

138 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Gemini 3.6 Flash

$146.25/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,506

EloHigh is better

1,540+2%

Code Elo

High is better

1,514

Code EloHigh is better

1,520

LiveBench

High is better

67.2%

LiveBenchHigh is better

68.5%+2%

SWE-bench

High is better

70.8%

SWE-benchHigh is better

71%

GPQA

High is better

79.6%

GPQAHigh is better

84%+6%

TTFT

Low is better

+280%92 ms

TTFTLow is better

350 ms

Speed

High is better

+230%198 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

60 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+9900%$0.75/1M

In $Low is better

$75/1M

Out $

Low is better

+3900%$3.75/1M

Out $Low is better

$150/1M

Context

High is better

+719%1M

ContextHigh is better

128k

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 98% with Gemini 3.6 Flash

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Gemini 3.6 Flash$82.50 / mo

In: $26.25Out: $56.25

GPT-4.5 Orion$4,875.00 / mo

In: $2625.00Out: $2250.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Gemini 3.6 Flash is estimated to save $4,792.50/month ($57,510/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
GPT-4.5 Orion:Pick GPT-4.5 Orion when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Gemini 3.6 Flash:Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when you are optimizing output cost.
3
Gemini 3.6 Flash:Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-4.5 Orion

Higher SWE-bench (71%).

High-volume chatGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower TTFT (92 ms).

Long-document RAGGemini 3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4.5 Orion

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-4.5 Orion	Higher SWE-bench (71%).
High-volume chat	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower TTFT (92 ms).
Long-document RAG	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4.5 Orion	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

priceAug 13, 2026

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

Jul 21 workhorse that inherited $0.75/$3.75 through year-end. Keep the row; 3.7 is the newer sibling.

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LIVE

Google

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Elo 1,506

LiveBench67.2%

SWE-bench70.8%

Speed198 tok/s

Output cost$3.75/1M

OpenAI

GPT-4.5 Orion

Elo 1,540

LiveBench68.5%

SWE-bench71%

Speed60 tok/s

Output cost$150/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?: GPT-4.5 Orion has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,540). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?: GPT-4.5 Orion leads SWE-bench at 71% vs 70.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Gemini 3.6 Flash output tokens are $3.75/1M versus $150/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?: Gemini 3.6 Flash has the lower time-to-first-token (92 ms vs 350 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Gemini 3.6 Flash and GPT-4.5 Orion Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Gemini 3.6 Flash matchups →|All GPT-4.5 Orion matchups →

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3 Flash (previous gemini-flash)Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Gemini 3.7 Flash (next gemini-flash)GPT-4.5 Orion vs OpenAI: o1 (previous gpt-flagship)GPT-4.5 Orion vs GPT-5 (next gpt-flagship)Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking vs Gemini 3.6 Flash Gemini 3.7 Flash vs GPT-4.5 Orion

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GPT-4.5 Orion benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Gemini 3.6 Flash (5)vsGPT-4.5 Orion (5)

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W (50%)

← Gemini 3.6 FlashGPT-4.5 Orion →

GPT-4.5 Orion (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,506vs1,540

Coding Elo

1,514vs1,520

SWE-bench

70.8%vs71%

LiveBench

67.2%vs68.5%

GPQA Diamond

79.6%vs84%

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 0WGPT-4.5 Orion: 5W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

198 tok/svs60 tok/s

Time to first token

92 msvs350 ms

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 2WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Gemini 3.6 Flash (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$3.75/1Mvs$150/1M

Input price

$0.75/1Mvs$75/1M

Context window

1Mvs128k

Gemini 3.6 Flash: 3WGPT-4.5 Orion: 0W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGPT-4.5 Orion

Higher SWE-bench (71%).

High-volume chatGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGemini 3.6 Flash

Lower TTFT (92 ms).

Long-document RAGGemini 3.6 Flash

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-4.5 Orion

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GPT-4.5 Orion	Higher SWE-bench (71%).
High-volume chat	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower output list price ($3.75/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Lower TTFT (92 ms).
Long-document RAG	Gemini 3.6 Flash	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-4.5 Orion	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-4.5 Orion).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?

GPT-4.5 Orion has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,540). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?

GPT-4.5 Orion leads SWE-bench at 71% vs 70.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Gemini 3.6 Flash output tokens are $3.75/1M versus $150/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GPT-4.5 Orion?

Gemini 3.6 Flash has the lower time-to-first-token (92 ms vs 350 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts 1M tokens versus 128k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Gemini 3.6 Flash and GPT-4.5 Orion Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

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Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

GPT-4.5 Orion

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

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Gemini 3.6 Flash

GPT-4.5 Orion

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

GPT-4.5 Orion

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Gemini 3.6 Flash

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Gemini 3.6 Flash (Jul 21) now shares the 3.7 intro rate

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Gemini 3.6 Flash

GPT-4.5 Orion

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons